LONDON-CAPETOWN BY AIR

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1930, Page 7

LONDON-CAPETOWN BY AIR

VALUABLE EMPIRE LINK ASSISTANCE FROM AFRICA FAST CARRIAGE OF MAILS TRAVELLING TIME HALVED British Wireless. Rugby, Sept. 22. The regular air-mail route between London and Capetown, which Imperial Airways is to operate next year, will halve the time between these two points. There will at first be. 11 days’ journey in each direction, but it is anticipated that this will before long be reduced to nine days.

The Union of South Africa, which has supported the scheme from the beginning, is making a substantial contribution to the necessary subsidy and is actively assisting the project in other ways. The Governments of Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Northern and Southern Rhodesia are also co-op-erating and the Egyptian Government, which is not contributing to the subsidy, is providing valuable facilities for the service. All the authorities concerned have throughout the negotiations appreciated the advantages, both local and general, of the enterprise, which will immensely improve communications between widely separated parts of the Empire. The first half of the route is to be in operation in January and will extend from London to Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, which is 2600 miles from Cairo and 150 miles from Nairobi. The route chosen for the remaining 3000 miles to the Cape, after following the Nile, will pass through Uganda, Tanganyika and Rhodesia.

The short “Calcutta” type of flying boat will be used between Khartoiuh and Kisumu and will alight on the Nile and the lakes. The land machines used along the route will be Armstrong, Whitworth Argosies and De Havilland Hercules. All the machines will have three engines. Each route will serve much undeveloped territory and < has been designed to permit the eventual provision of branch services at various points.